Greece recognizes Venezuela’s Guaido as interim president

Venezuela’s opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido, arrives at the National Assembly building for a meeting with Enrique Iglesias, the European Union’s special adviser for Venezuela, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, July 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Leonardo Fernandez)

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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece’s new government says it is recognizing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president, saying this would align Greece with the European Union’s joint position.

The foreign ministry announcement Friday reverses the previous government’s position, which had aligned itself with embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Around 50 countries have recognized Guaido as interim president, asserting Maduro’s re-election last year was illegitimate.

Greece’s foreign ministry announced it had “decided to recognize the president of the democratically elected national assembly, Juan Guaido, as the interim president of Venezuela in order for him to call free, fair and democratic presidential elections.”

The country’s conservative party, led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis, comfortably won Sunday’s election, defeating the previous left-wing government of Alexis Tsipras.

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